Get Sum

Walking tour. The two least inspiring travel-biz buzzwords this side of cruise ship.

You schlep. You stop. An anthropology major with a nametag on a lanyard points at a building and makes the same joke he's been making every day for the last two years.

But a walking tour interrupted by heaping plates of sweat-inducing Chinese grub? Now we’re talking.

Talking Curated Gnomes, the brainy brigade of food writers who take you on enriching, lip-smacking excursions of L.A.’s most gastronomically significant ‘hoods.

Directed by Clarissa Wei, an LA Times food writer and co-founder of Xian Wei, Gnomes (cheekily pronounced “noms”) is one part history lesson, one part stuffing your face.

The first event hits San Gabriel to cover spicy eats from the Middle Kingdom (everything from dan dan noodles to stinky tofu) and will leave you with a working knowledge of the finer differences between, say, Sichuan and Hunan cuisine.

To wit: “Sichuan food has tongue-numbing ingredients — specifically the Sichuan peppercorn. Hunan does not. Hunan has a lot of vegetables and no sugar.”

To join, just sign up here. But don’t dilly dally — these spots won’t last.